Automatic accumulator for cigars

ABSTRACT

An automatic accumulator for cigars comprises a conventional traveling belt which collects cigars sidewise in a single layer between the belt and a parallel spaced cover, a conventional rotating fluted drum which delivers the cigars sidewise to the collector from an irregular source of cigars, and a downwardly sloping ramp on which cigars from the source are charged sidewise to the drum, and a sensing device is positioned along the ramp so as to stop both the belt and the drum whenever there is less than a predetermined number of cigars on the ramp at one time.

United States Patent Black et al. [4 1 Jan. 18, 1972 [s41 AUTOMATIC ACCUMULATOR FOR 2,896,636 7/1959 Powell et a] ..2s0/223 x CIGARS 3,283,163 ll/l966 Fulmar ..250/223 3,395,269 7/ I968 Klapes ..250/223 X [72] inventors: .1. Harold Black, Quinton; Edward W.

Reed; both of Richmond Primary Examiner-Walter Stolwein of Attorney-Pennie, Edmonds, Morton, Taylor and Adams [7 3] Assignee. American Brands, Inc., New York, NY. 7] ABSTRACT [22] Filed: Dec. 31, 1969 An automatic accumulator for cigars comprises a conven- 1 PP N05 339,523 tional traveling belt which collects cigars sidewise in a single layer between the belt and a parallel spaced cover, a conven- 52 us. or. "250 223: 198/62 wing dmm which sidewi" 5 I] CL Go6m 7/00 to the collector from an irregular source of cigars, and a 581 Field of Search ..2s0/222 223- 198/62- 356/237 skping which v charged sidewise to the drum, and a sensing device is posi- [56] Rekunm cited tioned along the ramp so as to stop both the belt and the drum whenever there is less than a predetermined number of cigars UNITED STATES PATENTS the p at one time- Gieseke ..250/223 X 2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures O. 5 \1 g e e e on e I =1 O O E;-

zzals I PATENTEU JAN? 8 E92 SHEET 1 BF 2 .llll

INVENTORS J. HAROLD BLACK EDWARD w. REED VERNON C. STANT PATENIEDJAHBBYZ 3.636.333

'SHEET 2 OF 2 Quill imlll 'HHI HI '1 INVENTORS J.HAROLD BLACK EDWARD w. REED VERNON c. STANT ATTORN EY S AUTOMATIC ACCUMULATOR FOR CIGARS This invention relates to accumulators for cigars, and more particularly, to an automatic accumulator which collects a predetermined number of cigars in side-by-side position for discharge simultaneously to a storage or handling device.

In the manufacture of cigars, it frequently happens that an irregular supply of cigars is dischmged from one'station and must be accumulated in orderly fashion for delivery to a further processing operation or to a storage device. It is conventional to discharge the cigars from the'source stationin sidewise procession onto a fluted drum, whence the cigarsare delivered, either directly or indirectly, onto a movingcollecting belt provided with a parallel spaced cover which maintains the cigars in a single horizontal layer on the belt. We have observed that the sidewise discharge of a single cigar from the source onto the fluted drum, usually by means of adelivery ramp, frequently causes the cigar to bounce or to be deflected in itstravelso that it encounters thefluted drum withitsaxis misaligned with the flutes in the drum surface. Such misalignment can cause the cigar to be jammed in the drummechanism. In addition, we have observed that continued movement of the collecting belt during'a substantial interval between the delivery of cigars to the belt tends. to cause the cigars to walk axially across the belt and to take up aposition in which their axes are no longer perpendicular to the direction of the belt movement.

We have now discovered that the aforementioned aberra-,

tions in the movement of cigars collected in an accumulator stage can be prevented by control of the. operation of both the drum and the belt. Thus, the apparatus of our invention comprises an improved accumulator for collecting a plurality of cigars sidewise in a row of predetermined number wherein the cigars are collected in a single layer on a moving horizontalv belt provided with a parallel spaced cover and are'supplied thereto through the medium of a rotatingfluted drum to which the cigars are delivered at irregular intervals to the drum via a mulator of the invention will be more readily understood from the following description taken in conjunctiona'with the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a top plan view, partially broken away, of the apparatus of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is aside elevation, partially broken away, of the apparatus shown in FIG. I.

As shown in FIG. I, the accumulator comprises a horizontally mounted endless carrier belt 5 movable in the. direction of the arrow atits left end inorder to carry cigars 6 toward.

that end from a'feeddevice at the right endof the belt. The underside of the topportion' of the belt is supported by an appropriate bedplate 7 in order'to maintainthe top carrying portion of the belt in a flat plane. A substantial distance from the left end'of the path of the belt travel there is positioned a stop in the form of a platelike blocks 8 which, together with a similar pair of blocks 8a near the cigar feed end of the belt, serve as a spacer to support-a cover plate 10, advantageously of clear plastic such as methyl methacrylate, spaced above the belt by a distance slightly greater than the. thickness of the cigars. The cover plate thus serves to maintain the cigars in;a single horizontal row as they are fed onto the belt.

When a predetermined number of cigars has been accumulated on the belt 5 against the stop plates'8, the numberadvantageously being measured by a conventional counter operated by a finger 11 under which each'cigar f d to the belt 5 must pass, the cigar feed device is stopped by the counter, a pivoted plate 9 is moved by the plunger 90 tozalign thelast-fed cigars with the remainderso that they are in proper position to be fed into the loading box, and thereafter a horizontally mounted pusher plate 12 is moved inwardly against the tips of the accumulated cigars and pushes them endwise off the side of the belt 5. As the cigars are pushed off the belt, their leading ends pass under a sloping lip 13 of a guide plate 14 and thus lift the guide plate which is advantageously counterbalanced by a weight 15 on an arm 16 connected to the guide plate. This movement of the guide plate 14 actuates a conventional drive mechanism to lower the loading box a distance equal to the thickness of the layer of cigars being charged to it by the pusher plate 12. When the layer of cigars being charged to the box is the last layer that the .box can accommodate, as determined by any appropriate conventional sensing means, a box carrier 17 lowers the filled box to a position indicated by numeral 17a, whence a box pusher 17b is actuated to move the filled box out of feeding position and thus permit an empty box to be positioned adjacent the side of the accumulator belt 5.

The improvement in this type of accumulator, pursuant to the present invention, is more readily understood from FIG. 2. As can be seen in this figure, the cigars 6, supplied at irregular intervals from a catcher belt of a cigar-wrapping machine for example, are discharged onto a downwardly sloping intermediate ramp 18 and onto an accumulator ramp 18a of transparent material. The lower end of the accumulator ramp is positioned close to a fluted rotatable drum 20 which is provided with a conventional retaining cover 21 adapted to retain a cigar in each flute until the cigar ispositioned over a driven accumulator feed belt 22 provided with upstanding flights 23. The accumulator feed belt is provided with a retaining wall 24 which holds each cigar between successive flights 23 until the cigar is discharged onto the feed end of the accumulator carrier belt 5. v

Pursuant to the invention, a light source 25 is positioned above the accumulator ramp 18a and a photocell 26 is positioned below this ramp. The output of the photocell is responsive to the amount of light impinging upon it, and this amount of light is dependent upon the number of cigars resting on the transparent accumulator ramp 18a. The output of the photocell 26 is connected in a conventional manner to a relay which controls operation of electric drive motors l9 and 19a for'the accumulator assembly. The motor 19 drives the accumulator carrier belt 5, and the motor 19a drives the fluted drum20 and the accumulator drive belt 22. When a sufficient amount of light passes through the accumulator tray 18a to operate the relay and turn off the drive motor, this light correspondsto a condition where the number of cigars on the transparent accumulator tray 18a is less than that required to cover the tray. By adjusting the sensitivity of the photocell 26, it canbe set to shut off the drive to the aforementioned components when there are as few as only-two or three cigars on the tray 18a. I

We have found that when a single cigar is discharged onto the intermediate ramp 18 and thence becomes the only cigar on theaccumulator tray 180, there is a pronounced tendency for the cigar to come to rest against the fluted drum 20 in a position with its axis nonparallel to the axis of a flute in the drum. Under these conditions, the cigar can be lifted angularly on the upwardly advancing face of the drum with the result that the cigar becomes jammed under the retaining cover 21. When there is a supply of at least two, and preferably three or more, cigars on the sloping accumulator try 18a, the advent of each cigar beyond that one nearest the fluted drum tends to push that cigar into a position with its axis parallel to the axes of the flutes. In this way, each cigar is properly positioned in a flute of the drum 20, and whenever there are not enough cigars on the accumulator tray 18a to insure this result, the photocell functions to stop the fluted drum until enough cigars have collected on the tray 18a to insure proper feed to the drum.

We have found that it is also advantageous to stop the feed to the-accumulator carrier belt and the carrier belt itself whenever there is no feeding of cigars from the drum 20 to the feed belt 22. In the absence of a cigar discharged by a feed belt flight onto the accumulator carrier belt in proper transverse alignment with respect to the carrier belt, there is a tendency for other cigars on the carrier belt to roll and wal angularly across the belt so that they cannot properly be discharged into a layer of the cigar box to be loaded, By stopping the unnecessary travel of the accumulator carrier belt, we have found that this walking" of the cigars is overcome Accordingly, we stop the rotation of the fluted drum 20, the movement of the accumulator feed belt 22 and the movement of the accumulator carrier belt 5 whenever there are less than a predetermined number of cigars onthe accumulator feed tray 180 with the result that there is no jamming of cigars on the feed drum or distortion of the desired accumulation of a complete box-layer of cigars on the accumulator carrier.

It will be understood, of course, that the apparatus of the invention is not limited to the use of a photocell to control operation of the fluted drum and other carriers and that the same result can be achieved by any other device, such as a counter or weigher, which will insure the presence of more than one cigar at the point at which each cigar is fed to the drum flutes. It will also be understood that a flighted feed belt is not necessarily required to transfer cigars from the fluted drum to the accumulator carrier belt and that a direct discharge of cigars from the drum onto the carrier belt can be used provided the direct discharge device'insure proper alignment of the cigar transversely on the carrier belt.

We claim:

1. In an accumulator for collecting a plurality of cigars sidewise in a row of predetermined number wherein the cigars are collected in a single row on a moving horizontal belt provided with a parallel spaced cover and are supplied thereto through the medium of a rotating fluted drum to which the cigars are delivered at irregular intervals via a downwardly sloping ramp adjacent the fluted drum, the improvement comprising means for aligning a plurality of cigars in transverse alignment with respect to said horizontal belt said means including a radiation-sensing device positioned along said ramp and being adapted to sense the simultaneous presence on said ramp of a plurality of cigars, and control means responsive to said sensing device for stopping said moving beltand said rotating drum whenever there is an absence of said plurality of cigars on said ramp 2. The accumulator of claim 1 further comprising means for aligning the longitudinal axis of each of said cigars on said ramp parallel with the axes of the flutes of said fluted drum. 

1. In an accumulator for collecting a plurality of cigars sidewise in a row of predetermined number wherein the cigars are collected in a single row on a moving horizontal belt provided with a parallel spaced cover and are supplied thereto through the medium of a rotating fluted drum to which the cigars are delivered at irregular intervals via a downwardly sloping ramp adjacent the fluted drum, the improvement comprising means for aligning a plurality of cigars in transverse alignment with respect to said horizontal belt said means including a radiationsensing device positioned along saId ramp and being adapted to sense the simultaneous presence on said ramp of a plurality of cigars, and control means responsive to said sensing device for stopping said moving belt and said rotating drum whenever there is an absence of said plurality of cigars on said ramp.
 2. The accumulator of claim 1 further comprising means for aligning the longitudinal axis of each of said cigars on said ramp parallel with the axes of the flutes of said fluted drum. 